


The Sound of a Voice

by likestoimagine



Series: Spots and Stripes, Roses and Paws [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-16
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-21 01:30:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4809758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likestoimagine/pseuds/likestoimagine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything changes with a voice to speak, and with ears to hear.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Voice in the Trees

Of all the things that Marinette expects when she ducks around the back of the school to find a quiet place for lunch, a damp huff coming from the trees ranks fairly low. But, that’s what she hears, and that’s what prompts her to look up and spot Adrien half-hidden within one of the tree’s heavy branches.

 

He doesn’t seem to have noticed her, but Marinette is still seized by awkwardness, frozen like a terrified rabbit at the unexpected sight. What on earth is she supposed to do? Normally she’d be ecstatic at this kind of accidental opportunity to see her crush, but he sounds so upset. Should she wait for him to feel better? Should she leave him alone? Should she go find his friend and hope he can help?

 

…Nino isn’t here today. Just like Alya, his absence was noted at roll call, and Marinette had caught more than one of Adrien’s sad glances at his empty desk earlier in class.

 

So he can’t talk to Nino right now, and the people at his house probably aren’t going to provide much support if they have to resort to stealing her present in order to give Adrien something for his _birthday_. Especially since her modest scarf was better than the pen that he got three years ago as his last present from his dad.

 

Right. That means… “Hey,” she calls up to Adrien, “Are you alright?” Even though Marinette might not be, considering just how fast her heart is beating, she still has to find out this much, for him.

 

The branches above her shake briefly, absorbing the shock of Adrien jolting in surprise. He shifts until Marinette can see one of his green eyes through the shadows, and after a moment replies, “…Yeah. I’m fine.”

 

It’s quite possibly the most insincere reply Marinette has ever heard, actually, and he seems to want her to be gone, but he also seems so _sad_. So instead of taking the dismissal, she ventures again, “A -are you sure? Because if you want, I can try and help…”

 

Adrien snaps, “I’m fine, just leave me alone,” and Marinette flinches. She’s probably pushed too far, she should have listened the first time. And he doesn’t really know her anyways, doesn’t have any reason to trust her, so of course it was a dumb idea to try and talk to him. Marinette feels very much like curling up and never showing her face again right now.

 

“O-okay…” she answers, “I’m sorry, I should have listened the first time. I’ll just go…”

 

Turning to run away - with mortification staining her face red - she makes it only about two steps before the tree rustles again and Adrien calls out, “Wait.”

 

Marinette freezes, then loses balance and flails. She tries to keep herself up and succeeds just enough to avoid falling on her butt, instead spinning gracelessly around to face him again. Adrien has moved further out of the tree now, so he’s more visible past the leaves, and he looks kind of sheepish.

 

Blushing, he murmurs, “I’m sorry, that was mean of me. I just…” He pauses, like he doesn’t know what he wants to say. Or, like he knows, but doesn’t know how to say it tactfully. Marinette fidgets as he sits silently, then finally sighs, “Never mind, it’s nothing.”

 

In an instant, Marinette shakes her head and says, “No, it’s fine. What did you want to say?”

 

Noticing his hesitation, she hastily continues, “I mean, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but if you want, I’ll listen? But you have no obligation to tell me. I mean, I’d like to help if I can, but I guess it’d be kind of weird because you don’t know me that well… Um.”

 

She cuts off as Adrien, for the first time this conversation, laughs. It’s a small thing, little more than a chuckle, but it still lights up the sky and Marinette is beyond glad to hear it, even if it comes at her expense.

 

Looking lighter than he has all day, Adrien smiles, “Don’t worry about it. I was just wondering…” the laughter fades out of his eyes as he leans his head on the tree and says, “I was just wondering why you wanted to know.”

 

The last part is barely a whisper, and Marinette was probably lucky to even hear it. Maybe Adrien thinks so, too, because he looks positively baffled when Marinette answers, “You looked sad… and I know for me, having someone to listen helps.”

 

And right now, she’s the only one here to listen. Irrespective of whatever feelings she may have for him, in this moment that’s what he needs, so that’s what she’ll give him (hopefully without the conversational wipeouts, too). Marinette hates to see people sad, and the fact that it’s Adrien only makes it worse, because unlike with Manon or Alya or Mom or Dad, she doesn’t know if she can do anything to help.

 

Adrien stares at her, eyes full of something strange. It makes Marinette freeze, because it’s hopeful and hesitant and full of something deep that she doesn’t quite get, and all she can do is stare back without knowing what he’s looking for.

 

There’s nothing but silence and still air in the space between them, and yet something resonates there. Adrien blinks slowly, once, twice, then releases his held breath with a sigh. He murmurs to himself, “…It helps to have someone listen,” then he slides down from the tree, landing in a four limbed crouch on the grass below.

 

Closing the distance between them with a slow and cautious walk, Adrien moves closer, then pauses. Instead of moving further, he sits and looks up at Marinette with a questioning gaze, which Marinette answers by closing the rest of the distance.

 

She settles down next to him - not quite close enough to touch him, but close enough nonetheless.

 

And they sit in silence, until Adrian finally says, “It’s probably not as important as you think it is, to be honest.”

 

“If it’s bothering you this much,” she answers without a clue as to what might be wrong, “Then it’s important, no matter what it is. I’ll listen to whatever you tell me.”

 

Adrien huffs, “If you say so…” A pause, then he continues, “It’s really not much. Just… I dunno. Today is my first free day in a while, and I was going to hang out with Nino. Be a normal kid for once, you know? And then I found out he has a family thing he needs to attend that he can’t get out of, and I really get it, but part of me feels bitter, too.”

 

He sighs and rubs at his neck, “I don’t even know why I’m so upset about it all. I mean, things happen, right? I feel so selfish...” Marinette closes her eyes with a hum. There’s an answer here, she knows, and she rolls the clues around her head, hoping they’ll click together. Maybe it’s not the answer, the solution to his problem, but the why…

 

“I think it’s natural to be upset if you can’t meet up with your friend, even if there’s no real helping it,” she muses, almost absentminded. “I know that I was upset that I couldn't see Alya today, even though I already knew she was going to have a dentist appointment.”

 

With barely a pause to take another breath, she continues, “But I imagine it’s a lot worse when you don’t get that much time with them in the first place, and when you don’t have anyone else to talk to.”

 

She opens her eyes and turns to look at Adrien. Her heart still stutters just looking at him, but for once her head isn’t filled with fantasies about dating him and naming their imaginary kids. Now, she just sees melancholy in his eyes reflected in a bitter smile, and the only thing she can say is, “It’s ok to be upset. I’m sorry that this happened to you.”

 

It doesn’t really fix or change anything, but it’s true. It’s all she can offer right now.

 

With a nod, Adrien accepts the platitude. There’s a smidgen of weight lifted from his shoulders, and they sit together in the silence of a gentle breeze. A spot of red alights itself on Adrien’s knee, catching Marinette’s eye. Her movement prompts Adrien to look down from his distant gaze, and they see the tell tale spots of a little ladybug trailing a meandering walk over blue denim. It prompts Adrien to smile, and even if she doesn’t know why he’s so happy, Marinette can’t help but smile in turn.

 

Suddenly, she straightens. Ladybug. Manon’s favorite superhero. There’s an idea, but… she wants to be the one to make him happy, she doesn’t want to rely on someone else for this. Adrien is looking at her in bafflement, though, and Marinette decides that helping him is more important than being self-serving. So, she crystallizes her resolve and speaks.

 

“Adrien, how long are you free?” She faces him and leans ever so slightly closer with an excited bounce, throwing her hands in the grass to keep her upright.

 

Looking somewhat taken aback by the burst of energy, Adrien nevertheless answers, “Pretty much until nine, when my dad gets home. Why? “

 

Marinette sits back and claps her hands together, exclaims, “You remember Manon, right?”

 

“Yeah, the photographer ended up asking for a photo set with her. Why?”

 

Grinning, Marinette answers, “I remember when you were doing that photo shoot, it looked like you were having a lot of fun with her. Maybe it’s a little weird, but… if you want, you could help me with her. I have to babysit her after school until her parents get back from work, you could spend that time playing with her again.”

 

Adrien is quiet, and Marinette starts to fidget, wondering if maybe this was a bad idea after all. At the very least, it's a really weird one. Who even invites other people to help them babysit anyways? She must be crazy to think this'd work. Eventually though he sweeps away her fears, when he smiles and answers, “Yeah, I’d like that. Thanks.”

 

At that exact moment, the school bell rings, and Marinette starts. Trying to jump without getting up for some reason, she manages to face-plant in the grass instead, with a plaintive “Owwwww” trailing behind her.

 

She sits up abruptly after that as she realizes, “Oh, jeez, I forgot to eat!”

 

When she’s answered with a giggle quickly cut off by a growling stomach (that’s not her own), she turns to to Adrien, who is standing with a sheepish grin now. He holds out his hand for her, and she takes it with a grateful thanks, before she opens up her lunch and pulls out her meal.

 

This time it’s fortunately a simple sandwich cut into two triangles, so she extracts her sandwich and hands half of it to Adrien, saying, “I hope you like PB and J. And don’t even think about refusing.”

 

She hopes she sounds cool, until she realizes, “Unless you’re allergic. Or don’t like PB and J. Um.” Oh, jeez. Why must she be so awkward?!

 

Adrien stops her minor freak-out with a huff of laughter and takes a bite of the triangle before she can continue to stammer. He swallows and smiles, “Thanks. So, meet you after school then?”

 

Marinette doesn’t even bother to hide her flushed grin when she answers, “Yes, definitely!”

 

She can’t hide it, because he’s really smiling now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: Apparently in France they don't actually eat lunch at school... So hopefully I can find a way to rewrite this to match.
> 
> Edit of an Edit: or they can, and I am very bad at research... Can I say that they have a lunch break with the option to stay or go home?


	2. Hello

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the end, it all starts with little more than a single word.

“Wait, Marinette has a crush on me?” Adrien… doesn’t know what to do with this information.

 

Nino stares at him blankly for a moment, before his palm connects with his face. Dragging his hand over his eyes, Nino answers, “Are you serious? Have you _not_ seen her? She trips over everything when she’s around you? She can hardly say two words to you sometimes? She knows a weird amount about your schedule and keeps on making things for you?”

 

“I thought she was just shy,” Adrien protests, shaking his head. He pauses. “And a little clumsy. But she’s kind, she likes making things for people. She’s given you and Alya stuff, too. You’re not going to say she has a crush on the two of you as well, are you?”

 

“She doesn’t make heart shaped valentines cookies then freak out and run away before delivering them to us,” Nino counters with a roll of his eyes, “That was solely for you.”

 

And that would explain more than it wouldn’t, actually, but from what he’s seen people just get so weird around Valentine’s day that he’s ultimately just decided to shrug it all off.

 

Also, for some reason, the thought of _Marinette_ of all people having a crush on him just seems silly. It’d be almost as strange as Ladybug having a crush on Chat Noir, except then he’d be ecstatic rather than baffled.

 

So, he tries again, saying, “Maybe she was just insecure about her baking?”

 

It sounds perfectly logical to him. Really. And it should be perfectly logical to Nino, too. Really.

 

Nino raises his eyebrow into an arch that communicates extreme skepticism as he shoots Adrien down with, “Yes, the red, heart shaped package labeled with your name, filled with heart-shaped cookies, given to you on Valentine’s Day by a stuttering  girl was _definitely_ just a baking experiment. I don’t know why you’re being so stubborn about it, it’s obvious that Marinette’s in love with you.”

 

Adrien opens his mouth to give a reply. Though, whatever that was never actually sees the light of day, because that’s about when a loud _thunk_ sounds behind them. Both boys turn to the source of the noise to see the very girl herself standing there, with a pile of textbooks at her feet and a look of abject horror on her face.

 

They all freeze, as if by a spell. Then, Nino weakly stutters, “Marinette… hi,” and gets no further before Marinette bolts, down the hall she just came through and off to the back of the school.

 

That unfreezes Adrien in turn, and he races down the hall after her, shouting, “Marinette, _wait_!”

 

Up ahead, Marinette runs past Alya without even seeing her, and Alya raises a hand to call out to Adrien. He dodges past her with a rushed _sorry_ , though, and barely hears her growl as she grabs Nino by the back of his shirt, demanding to know _exactly_ _what just happened_.

 

If he had any other thoughts on his mind, he’d wonder at how he got lucky enough to dodge that particular bullet, but as it is, Adrien is wholly focused on trying to keep Marinette in his sight. She runs extremely quickly for such a tiny girl, but eventually she makes her way through a door that Adrien knows leads to the student gardens, full of vegetables and flower bushes that are tended to by the student gardening club. More relevantly, the garden also only has one way in and one way out.

 

Which seems like a bit of a fire hazard, but also means he’s not going to have to search for Marinette anymore because she’s going to be staying in there for a while. Also, now Adrien can afford to slow down and catch his breath so that he’ll be able to speak actually coherent words when he finally approaches her. To this end, he starts to walk more slowly.

 

…Ok, so part of it is that he’s feeling a lot more nervous about talking to her now that he’s not hopped up on adrenaline, but he doesn’t want to hurt her. Marinette is a sweet girl, and he enjoys talking to her because she’s so selflessly kind, but their newfound friendship is only weeks old, and it’ll be devastating if it isn’t strong enough for this… whatever it is. If he’s just a little bit slower, takes just another breath, then he doesn’t have to come closer to what could (terrifyingly) be the end of their friendship.

 

Eventually, though, he reaches the door to the gardens, and he can’t put off the inevitable any longer. Adrien’s first step into the light feels like it’s dragging through thick honey. The one after that is lighter, and after that his pace shifts back to normal. As he trails footprints over dusty pathways, Adrien keeps his eyes sharp for anything unusual - a brush of dark cloth, or of pink jeans - and steels himself to talk.

 

Eventually, a sweep of black hair catches his eye, half hidden by the broad green leaves of a flowering bush. Adrien slows his walk to a deliberate, heavy step that hits the dirt with a soft foomp, and he watches Marinette to see what she’ll do. When she does nothing, he sits down, with his back to his friend, on the other side of the flower bed.

 

Without looking, he asks, “Can I talk to you?” with a voice that’s coaxing and soft. _I’m not going to hurt you_ , he says, _please talk to me_.

 

It’s silent for so long that Adrien starts to think that Marinette won’t ever answer, but she eventually breaks the stillness surrounding them with a soft, “Mm.”

 

It’s not much, but it’s enough, and Adrien takes it to start off saying, “…I’m sorry about all of that.”

 

Marinette shifts behind him. Though he still can’t see her, Adrien can tell that she’s turned around at least, because her voice is clearer (if still slightly tremulous) as she answers, “It’s fine. It’s not like it was really your fault anyways.”

 

“Maybe I didn’t start the conversation,” Adrien disagrees, “but I could have stopped it a lot earlier if I thought to.” Instead, he had been too caught up in denying the possibility - in winning an argument that didn’t matter - to think about how rude it was to be discussing her feelings like she was a curiosity instead of a friend.

 

And because of that, they ended up distressing Marinette to the point where she ran away. How pathetic is he, that this is all he can do for his friend?

 

Adrien pauses, not knowing what else to do. He doesn’t know what he can say to Marinette, so he instead waits for her to speak, if she wants. After a minute drags by, tense and uncomfortable, Marinette finally replies, “Well, it’s not like he was wrong…”

 

For Adrien, the world shifts, just a little. It’s not that it’s detestable for Marinette to have a crush on him or anything, even if he has no clue why she does. But, it’s like a scratch inside his skull that he can’t reach, the feeling that something is just the slightest bit misaligned now, and he doesn’t know what it is. It was so much easier when Nino was wrong and Marinette was simply mortified over the falsehood, except it ends up that was never true.

 

Maybe if he wasn’t in love with Ladybug already, this wouldn’t be such a bad thing. But, well… it looks like his bad luck has struck again, that he didn’t meet Marinette first.

 

Unaware of his internal strife, Marinette continues with a forced laugh, “It’s kind of funny… I’ve wanted to tell you for the longest time, but I never managed to get the courage to do so. And now that you know, I’m still kind of terrified. I thought telling you wold fix things, not make it worse.”

 

How on earth is he supposed to deal with this? He’s bad enough with people on a good day as it is, but this is Marinette. Marinette, who is shy and straightforward, clumsy and graceful, quiet and loud, pretty much the kindest and most confusing person he’s ever met. For all that she is his friend now, he wishes so much that she’d been his friend for longer.

 

Adrien doesn’t think he can even begin to guess how to fix it (fixing things has always been Ladybug’s forte, except she probably couldn’t help here).

 

But, Marinette once helped him by speaking the only truths she’d known. He can do the same, even if he hates how desperate he sounds. “I’m sorry I can’t return your feelings, Marinette, but… I’d still like to be friends with you. I mean, if that’s ok with you! I don’t want to force you to - ”

 

“O-of course!” Marinette interrupts, nervous and baffled and slightly too loud. Adrien turns around to see bright blue eyes and a flushed red face through the flower bushes, and she doesn’t quite meet his eyes as she continues, “I’d love to be friends. With you. Um, continue to be friends with you, I mean.”

 

She groans and buries her face in her drawn-up knees. Sighing, she grumbles, “Let me try again… Yes, I’d still like to be friends with you, too, even if you don’t like me like I like you. It’s more than I hoped for, honestly.”

 

If Adrien didn’t know better, he’d wonder if Marinette thought poorly of him or something. That’s ridiculous, though, because…

 

…Marinette realizes how badly her words can be taken and backtracks frantically, “I didn’t mean it like that! I know you’re too kind for that, but I was just being dumb! Please ignore me.”

 

Adrien has to bite back a laugh. Even though he’s not mocking her and instead laughing because he’s so relieved, he’s almost positive she’d take it the wrong way. So instead, he does his best to school his expression back to ‘casual’ and says, “I think it’s natural to be worried about rejection for something like this. It’s fine.”

 

Does this echo tell her that she’s not alone, just as she once told him? It probably does, because Marinette smiles with a short bark of a laugh and grins, “Huh, that sounds familiar.”

 

“I hope so,” Adrien replies, with a grin and a wink, “Those words have really helped me in the past.”

 

Marinette flushes red again, and Adrien blinks. Did he say something wrong? But she starts to play with her hair, tugging at a pigtail while a smile threatens to split her face. It finally wins, and Adrien loves that he can see her beam. He loves that he can hear her say, “Thank you, Adrien,” because her voice is no longer heavy with dread.

 

Answering, “It was nothing,” Adrien pushes himself up to his feet and brushes the dirt off of his jeans. Walking around the flower bush to his friend, he holds out a hand and a smile to her, fingers waggling in an invitation to stand up.

 

Marinette accepts gratefully and moves to stand, except somehow she almost yanks him back to the ground instead. Though they flail with all the grace of a beached fish, both Adrien and Marinette manage to find their way to standing without major incident (even if she looks rather sheepish.)

 

After that near miss, they walk back to the building, mostly in silence. It’s only at the end, right before they hit the door, that Marinette finally says, “Can I tell you something?”

 

“Of course,” Adrien replies. “Whatever you need to say.”

 

Marinette takes a deep breath, and lets it go. Then, when she speaks, she says, “You know, I fell in love with you because you were cute and amazing. I stayed in love with you because you were so kind.”

 

Adrien opens his mouth to say that he’s not any of that he’s just Adrien, but Marinette beats him to the punch, “You said hello to me on your birthday. That meant a lot to me.”

 

Then she bolts. Opening the door with jittery fingers, she stammers, “So yeah, bye Adrien!” as she speeds down the hall, where a concerned Alya and a slightly panicked, slightly awed Nino wait.

 

Adrien, following at a slow walk, can’t help the slow smile that spreads across his face. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So one of my favorite parts of the second episode might be the part where Marinette kind of waves and says “Hello” to Adrien. I think it’s the only coherent word she actually says, and I really adore how Adrien replies in almost exactly the same way, because they’re both little awkward cinnamon rolls. (But seriously, I kind of love what that tiny interaction says. That Marinette can stutter and flail when talking to Adrien, and even if he’s confused as to what’s going on, he’ll still answer. Marinette can be brave, to speak even though she was anxious, and Adrien can be kind, to reply even though he was confused. I really adore these kids.)


	3. Silent Calls and Silent Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette asks for help and Adrien complies, and neither question nor answer is actually spoken aloud.

Marinette blanches after realizing that she’s spent a good thirty minutes blabbering on about fashion design ideas to Adrien, especially since she’s pretty sure there was more contribution from the flip of her sketchbook than there was from Adrien himself.

 

Just how embarrassing is _that_?! Monologuing about her stuff at Adrien, especially when he’s a legit model who’s probably _worn_ better than anything she’s ever made? He was probably bored to _tears_ , just waiting for the outpour to end.

 

Flushed with total mortification, Marinette starts to babble her way into an apology when Adrien finally stops her by saying, “Hey, no, it’s fine. I like it when you talk about your designs,” with an amused smile.

 

“It doesn’t get boring?” she asks with a squeak. She hates how her voice shrinks and how her shoulders hunch in such a timid way, but she can’t help it. She’s not brave like Ladybug, and the thought that Adrien might think she’s annoying, or dumb, or weird - it’s too much. She can’t lose his friendship, even if she doesn’t have a chance at his heart.

 

Adrien shakes his head as he repeats, “Nah, it’s really energizing to hear you talk with so much passion. I like it.” He says this casually, like it’s a simple statement of fact rather than entirely too suave to be said with a straight face, before he continues, “Isn’t that why I asked?”

 

Marinette doesn't exactly answer because she's blushing again, and it's not from embarrassment this time. Instead, she’s near melting from sheer glee, and all she can think is _why, oh why is he so easy to like?_ She’s supposed to be trying to get over him, because he already loves someone else (he’s never vocalized it, but his dreamy, wistful stares at the sky say enough) and it’s the least she can do when he’s so respectful of her unrequited crush. Except… Adrien just sits there, so friendly and sincere and, well, _Adrien-y_ that Marinette can’t help but fall in love all over again.

 

With her friend. Who only _likes_ her as a friend. Gah!

 

oOoOo

 

The next time that Adrien asks about her work, it… doesn’t go as well. And he doesn’t so much ask about her work as he does ask Alya, “Um, is everything ok?” when he sees them in the quad, but ‘everything’ includes design, right?

 

It’s probably a fair question, considering that he presumably walked up to them as Alya sat there watching Marinette pace a hole in the ground while simultaneously gesticulating wildly at the sketchbook innocently sitting on the table, but still.

 

She has artist’s block, so everything’s not ok, actually. Marinette makes this clear as she finally sits down next to Alya and groans, deep in her throat, with her face in her sketchbook like that might help some artistry seep its way back into her brain.

 

This is incidentally when she finally registers Adrien’s presence, and as such this is when she practically throws herself from the table in shock. Marinette only has a brief moment to curse her ridiculous reactions to _everything_ before she feels the sharp sting of impact.

 

…Impact isn’t as sharp a sting as she thought it’d be. When she realizes that this is because she’s draped in Adrien’s arms with all the grace of a bolt of cloth, Marinette scrambles to sit upright. In her most level voice, she sighs, “Thank you, Adrien,” hoping that she’s not fire-engine red.

 

That’s most likely in vain, considering how hot her face _feels_ , but Adrien does a stellar job of looking for all the world like he didn’t just catch her flailing and prevent her from crashing head first into the ground. Instead, all he does is reply, “No problem,” with a brief smile to show his acceptance of her thanks.

 

Though, his smile creases to a worried frown as he asks again, “Is everything alright, though?”

 

Marinette almost responds with a generic _everything’s great_ by instinct, but decides against that last minute. Instead, she just sighs and mutters,“Eh, I’m just having a hard time finding inspiration, is all…”

 

She leans her head on her folded arms as she speaks, seeing Adrien and Alya through her slanted view. Alya, on her right, has taken to rubbing circles in Marinette’s back as she soothes, “Hey, you’ll get there, I know it,” while Adrien takes the seat out of sight on her left and nudges her arm, saying, “She’s right, you’ll think of something amazing soon enough.”

 

They’re so supportive and sweet, the two of them. Marinette is entirely too lucky to have friends as great as them, and sometimes she wonders if she’s dragging them down by being her plain old self who is so silly about such a small thing. But then, Alya never criticizes her or judges her for her struggles, no matter how impatient she might get, and Adrien is even now explaining quietly to Nino that _Marinette’s fine, but she’s having some trouble with her designs now_ in a serious voice, without a hint of judgement or laughter. Nino, upon hearing, asks  _is there anything we can do to help, then?_

 

Marinette smiles at her amazing friends, eyes sliding shut. Distantly, she wishes that she fit in better with them, that she could be confidence and support for them, like they are for her.

 

(She wishes she could be strong like Ladybug.)

 

oOoOo

 

Marinette, as a rule, is either really early to class or really late - early is when she wakes up by schedule, because she loves the daytime and wouldn’t dream of letting even a moment of it go to waste, and late is when her shoulders droop with the payoff for rooftop gymnastics and homework, when she sleeps like a log (or a cat, if she feels like being ironic) long past sunrise.

 

Today, she’s late, partly because of a stubborn fight but mostly because she _really hates math_. Currently, she can only just hear the five minute warning bell ring, and she curses silently at the evil papers sitting in her bag as she speeds up, footsteps bounding high and fast over cement as she powers on.

 

Marinette practically dives into her seat moments before the official class bell rings, earning her an amused chuckle from Alya and a half exasperated/half amused eye-roll from Ms. Bustier. Returning both with a sheepish grin, Marinette tries to set her bag quietly on the floor and gets a louder-than-intended thunk instead. She cringes as she bends low, both to hide her face and to dig her note-taking things from her bag, with heat rising up and settling in a wash over her cheeks. When she finally sits up properly, Alya is still grinning at her.

 

It’s decidedly _odd_ , so Marinette turns to her with a questioning tilt to her head. Alya, with her still-gleeful grin, complies by nudging her and pointing to a medium sized tin on her desk.

 

Recognizing the invitation to open it and curious as to why it'd been put there, Marinette lifts the lid and catches a faint whiff of something sweet that tells her the box used to hold cookies or something. Now, though, it’s filled with an assortment of random stuff. There’s colorful glass beads and butterfly pins, metal charms shaped like feathers and little carved roses, a whole bunch of little trinkets that almost blend together, all carefully assorted on top of a fold of dark blue fabric glittering with pearly paint stars. On the lid of the tin, there’s a Post-it note that simply reads _for inspiration_.

 

Alya stops her from gasping too loudly with a hand over her mouth (sadly a more common response than it _ought_ to be), and when Marinette turns to her friend, she directs her attention to Adrien with a tilt of her head.

 

Marinette bites her tongue to try and slow the smile that’s threatening to break loose. When she no longer feels like she’s going to jump and cheer from joy at the unexpected encouragement if she speaks, she taps Adrien on the shoulder, mouthing _thank you_ at him when he turns to look up at her.

 

He mouths back _no problem_ , though he seems flustered as he rubs at the back of his head. Quickly turning around, he attempts to focus Ms. Bustier’s just-starting lecture and affects the most nonchalant body language he can muster.

 

Marinette notices, however, that his ears and the back of his neck are growing a little red. And though she knows better than to read too much into it, she’s still extra bubbly for the rest of the day.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, I can't even tell if the chapter's done or if I'm done, but here it is.
> 
> The plot was originally going to be different, but then I realized it was entirely too convoluted and complicated, so now there's a lot less speaking involved, despite the title of the work referring to voices and such. 
> 
> I'm sure the fact that they communicate without speaking is symbolic or something


	4. Cloth Whispers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For all that Adrien knows Marinette so well, there's still a lot for him to learn.
> 
> He doesn't discover her biggest secret, but it's a secret all the same.

When Adrien gets Marinette as his partner for their project, he turns to her with a smile and good cheer. Aside from being one of his closest friends, she’s also well known to be kind, skilled, and hard working, making her one of the best people in the entire class to partner with.

 

A lot of people seem to agree with him, because he’s getting envious looks all around. Nathanael, for example, is glaring daggers into his back with an intensity that quite frankly unnerves him. 

 

The main exceptions are Alya, who looks positively gleeful while giving them an incredibly unsubtle thumbs-up, and Nino, who is fine with any partner because he’s pretty chill about most everything (birthdays apparently being a major exception). 

 

Well, there’s also Chloe, but that’s probably more a result of her glaring at Marinette than anything else. Seriously, it looks like the only reason she’s not actually yelling is because she already knows that Ms. Bustier won’t let her switch partners…

 

Fortunately that nightmare is not to be, so Adrien to shoves that unpleasant thought to the back of his mind and brings himself back to the real world. 

 

Facing Marinette again, he asks, “So, how’s this going to work?”

 

Marinette hums as she taps a staccato on her cheek, eyes flicking from guidelines on her desk to his face. 

 

She thinks for a moment before she says, blushing faintly, “Well, I have most the things that we need at my place… if you want, you could come over and we could work on it there.”

 

Adrien’s fine with that, which is how he finds himself standing in front of a cute little bakery overlooking the Notre Dame on a bright Saturday morning, half asleep and wondering just _why_ mornings even exist. 

 

Also, he doesn’t know if he should go in or wait outside. 

 

Marinette ends up answering that question for him when she races out to the balcony and waves at him over the rail, cheerfully calling out, “I’ll be down in a minute, come in!” This, despite the fact that it’s _morning_. 

 

Still, he is kind of nervously excited to see his friend’s house for the first time, so he pushes the door open without complaint and hesitantly makes his way in.

 

And he’s faced with quite possibly the largest man he’s ever met. With flour dusted hands and a well worn apron, it’s clear that the behemoth works here - and remembering that this is Marinette’s family’s bakery, he wonders if this is her dad. 

 

As Adrien looks up… and up… and up… he has the weirdest feeling that he may be in over his head.

 

Then her dad gives him a full smile and a deep laugh, exclaiming, “And you must be Adrien!” and Adrien feels himself relax. When the mountain of a man is smiling like this, it’s a lot easier to see the family resemblance. He wonders how he could ever be afraid, when this man laughs like Marinette.

 

Now less wary of the giant in front of him, Adrien notices a much smaller woman with a bob-cut and a Chinese shirt standing next to him. Here, at least, the family resemblance is more readily apparent. 

 

Marinette’s mom greets him with a much calmer smile as she ushers him into the bakery, saying, “Marinette will be down in a moment,” as she does so. 

 

Adrien complies, feeling like there’s some kind of test he needs to pass without knowing why. 

 

That feeling passes, though, as Marinette practically flies down the stairs and shouts, “Sorry for the wait!” as she skids to a stop in front of the group.

 

She waves somewhat unnecessarily (but endearingly) at Adrien, before she gestures back and says, “Oh, these are my parents.” Turning so that she can point at Adrien while looking at them, she adds, “And this is Adrien.”

 

At a loss for what to do, Adrien just waves and murmurs “Hello.”

 

They seem to take it well enough, because Marinette’s mom replies, “Hello, it’s nice to finally meet you. You kids can go work upstairs, I’ll be up with some snacks in a bit.”

 

Adrien heads for the stairs without complaint, since parental word is law, only to be accidentally stopped as Marinette, rather than following, argues, “Mom, it’s fine, you guys just get back to work. I can fix up something if we need it.”

 

She punctuates this with a light shove, trying to push her mom back to the heart of the store, except her mom resists with a cheeky smile, asking, “Are you sure, sweetie? It’s no trouble, really.”

 

Marinette rolls her eyes as she replies, “Really, I’m sure,” but doesn’t say anything further, because that’s when her dad - who somehow left without him or Marinette knowing despite being approximately the size of a mountain - returns with a plate full of pastries. 

 

He hands it over to her daughter with a wide grin and comments, right into the pause he made in their ‘debate’, “They’re fresh from the oven!” 

 

Giggling at the both of them, Marinette takes the plate and complain with no force, “Hey, you tricked me!”

 

“We only took the opportunity given to us, Marinette,” her mom grins, “Now hurry up and go be productive.”

 

She punctuates this with a shooing motion as Marinette’s dad behind her nods solemnly, but the smiles on both their faces offsets the severity of the command.

 

Marinette is still chuckling when she beckons Adrien up the stairs. With a wistful last glance at the working couple, he follows. 

 

oOoOo

 

After quite some time of sitting and scribbling ideas on scrap paper with minimal movement or extraneous talk, Adrien finally unravels himself, stretching widely before he stands. Once he gains Marinette’s somewhat absentminded permission to explore the living room, he wanders off to look around. 

 

One of the first things to catch his eye is a sewing machine in the corner, sitting next to a small array of cloth and thread. Amidst the clutter is a half-finished drawstring bag, made so that the outside is daylight blue with sun and cloud decals while the inside is - from what he can see - a peek of a starry night sky with a bright crescent moon.

 

It’s beautifully crafted just like everything else Marinette makes, and Adrien picks up the bag to inspect it further when he finally realizes the starry cloth is actually from the tin that he and the others gave to her a few weeks ago. 

 

Now even more curious, Adrien turns to Marinette and asks, “Is this your newest project? It’s really cool.”

 

Marinette twitches from her place on the carpet, where she’d been brainstorming with a pencil in her mouth and her feet absently kicking the air. She glances over at him, head tilted, and lights up when she sees what he’s holding.

 

“Oh, that,” she exclaims as she gets up and walks over to him, slightly pink and beaming, “thanks! It’s actually for Alya, so she can keep her phone in there instead of her pocket.”

 

Coming closer, she tugs it out his hands so that she can point out the red stitching at the lip of the bag, continuing, “That’s why I put her name on it. It’ll be reversible, see? Since I find the night and day duality pretty cool.”

 

Marinette turns the bag inside out, showing Adrien the rest of the moon and the green-stitched name on the inside, and he bites on his tongue to prevent himself from laughing at the irony. Red in the day and green in the night? It’s clearly Ladybug and Chat Noir, and Marinette probably has no clue part of her inspiration is in her house at the very moment. 

 

Though he’s still planning to keep his secret, Adrien figures there’s no harm in mentioning that he’s noticed the motif, so he asks, once he can keep a straight face, “Did you plan the superhero design when you chose the colors?”

 

To his surprise, she grins at him impishly and replies, “Of course. They’re only Alya’s two favorite superheroes, don’t you know? I actually have ladybug and black cat charms to put on the drawstring.” 

 

She rummages around for them, but Adrien ends up distracting her from that when he spies a bobbin of shimmering embroidery thread from the corner of his eye. 

 

Picking it up and turning it in a refraction of pinks and golds, he asks, “Is this the thread you used for your signature? On the hat you made, I mean.”

 

Marinette sees what he’s looking at and replies, “Oh! Yeah, I have a whole bunch of different colors.” 

 

She digs through the basket for five more bobbins and lays them out on the table, explaining, “I really fell in love with these when I saw them, but they’re kind of expensive… so I only really use them for my signature.”

 

“Wow, they’re really pretty,” Adrien murmurs, eyes settled on a thread that seems oddly familiar, pale green and gold and sky blue like the dawn. “Do you sign all your projects?”

 

“Pretty much. If the signature doesn’t fit on the thing or match with the project, though, I’ll shorten it to just an ‘M’. Like here,” she traces a half-formed ‘M’ at the bottom of the bag as she continues, “since it’s supposed to be reversible and I’m sewing through both layers here, the sign needs to be recognizable from either side. My actual signature would end up backwards on one side, so this gets a letter instead.”

 

From there, conversation meanders on, drifting peacefully from topic to topic until Marinette glances at the clock, then starts. Adrien is surprised, too, because it feels like they’ve only been talking for a moment, yet half an hour has already passed. And as fun as it is to just hang out and relax with Marinette, they do need to actually work, so Adrien sits down again as Marinette goes to refill their tea. 

 

As Adrien gets back to work, though, he’s not thinking about their project. He hears water bubbling to a boil as Marinette asks if he still wants milk for his tea, and as he answers he thinks of Marinette’s head bent close to his, of her words occasionally brushing across his cheek. 

 

If he feels warmer than usual when Marinette comes back with two full mugs, it has to be because of the steam rising up to tickle his nose, right?

 

oOoOo

 

Adrien ends up going home when he gets a call from Natalie saying that the limo is outside and it’s past his (surprisingly late) curfew for the day. Not only is it startling, since it doesn’t _feel_ like he’s been there long enough for twilight to arrive, but it’s also uncomfortable, because _could that be any more pretentious, leaving his friend’s house in a freaking limo?!_

 

Except, Marinette and her parents take it all in stride and invite him to come back again, so he guesses it wasn’t that bad after all.

 

The ride going home is startlingly quiet, as is the mansion itself.

 

Or rather, it’s the same as any other day, but after today ( _working with the noise of bakery life in the background, snacking on fluffy breads and sipping steaming teas, nudging Marinette for short snippets of conversation breaks in an inviting, sun-warmed room_ )… his house feels so much colder. 

 

Adrien heads to his room predictably uninterrupted. He pushes past the door and drops his backpack by his desk when something - maybe envy of the closeness Marinette shares with her parents, or longing, to have the same - nudges at him to find the scarf his father gave to him on his birthday.

 

The material is as soft and sky-blue as ever, and Adrien wraps it around his neck imagining that maybe it holds some of the warmth that his father doesn’t know how to share anymore. Thus dressed, he settles on his couch to catch up on his reading, and passes an hour absently twisting the embroidered ends of his scarf as he makes sense of absurdly dry language.

 

Adrien almost finishes when his fingers brush against an irregularity in the embroidered pattern, tucked into a corner of the scarf. Curious, he brings the corner closer, and he sees that, within the pattern of the scarf, there’s an break in the design that’s filled with a shimmery, embroidered ‘M’.

 

M. For Marinette, he remembers, seeing the same dawn-colored thread from just hours before as he unwinds the scarf and holds it in his hands. 

 

M, for Marinette’s signature on the present that he got from his father, who would have no reason to commission a birthday present from an unknown fifteen year old designer. 

 

…Marinette tried to talk to him on his birthday. Aside from the scarf and the entire Bubbler incident, it’s one of the most memorable moments of the day, partly because Marinette mentioned it once before she ran away blushing but mostly because it had been so _strange_. 

 

Had she been holding something behind her back the entire time, though?

 

Well, her mark is there, clear in the bump of thread under his fingertips and the splash of subtle dawn. And sad as it may be, it’s a lot easier for him to believe that her present was unduly appropriated than it is for him to imagine a personal birthday present from his father.

 

Because of course his father couldn’t even find the time to get him a present, let alone actually grace him with his presence _on his birthday_. Most likely he didn’t even try to get the present for himself, since Gabriel Agreste’s pride (or integrity, it’s admittedly hard to tell with him) would never let him steal another person’s work for his own and Natalie was the one to give it to him anyways.

 

Still, this strip of cloth is the first personal birthday present he’s had since his mom disappeared. Adrien clutches it tight, holds the scarf close and hides his frustrated tears in the soft material. 

 

He breathes slowly - in, and out, in, and out - and as the pain flits away with his breath, something strange takes its place. 

 

As Adrien sits in the quiet, he can’t stop the slow smile that spreads across his face, or the giddy kind of warmth that’s rising from his collar. He lets out a slightly incredulous laugh, muffled by the scarf, at the though that Marinette put so much time and energy into a present for him even before they started really talking.

 

How hard was it for her to hear him talk about his father’s scarf, knowing that it was hers all along? And how deep does her crush go, that she would let him keep this illusion?

 

Adrien can hear her voice, woven loud and clear into the words she’s never said, louder than the all of the silence that he’s ever received from his father. 

 

When Adrien wraps himself with the scarf once again, he finds the night to be much warmer. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m embellishing Adrien’s scarf with random un-described embroidery, partly because Marinette’s a designer who would totally want to spice up a birthday present, but mostly because it fits in the story.
> 
> Also, I continue to be unsure as to which - between the chapter and I - is truly the one that's done.


	5. The Sound of a Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien can't be Chat Noir, right? Because if he is... then what does that mean for Marinette?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This somehow ended up twice as long as it was supposed to be... So, enjoy this monster of a last chapter?

Ladybug shares a customary fist bump and “Mission accomplished!” with Chat Noir when… something nudges at the back of her brain. 

 

It’s like deja-vu, except that doesn't make any sense because this isn’t something that should feel unnamed. She doesn’t know what to make of it, and Chat almost notices before Ladybug can shrug it off.

 

It’s probably not too important. The answer will come when it does. 

 

oOoOo

 

To say that Marinette doesn’t like public speaking is, quite frankly, a massive understatement. She knows logically that it’s harmless, their presentation will be over in no more than 20 minutes, and that the only person in the classroom who actually _wants_ to see her fail is Chloe (and possibly Sabrina, depending on how she’s feeling about Chloe), but now?

 

Now, as she stands in front of the class and gets ready to speak, she understands why death is only the second most common “number one fear.” 

 

Adrien, being a model, is either a lot more accustomed to the public eye or just plain better at hiding his nerves, because he introduces them easily, and just as easily passes the baton to Marinette.

 

Who completely freezes upon receiving the spotlight. 

 

She can’t do this, she really can’t. Alya’s giving her a thumbs up from her seat, and Nino catches her eye with a wink and a smile, but she still feels her breath come short as her mind blanks and she tries to speak and she chokes on her words.

 

Then, Marinette feels a hand press against the small of her back, a breath tickle her ear. Behind her, Adrien whispers, “Hey, I know you’ve got this,” before taking a step away, and she wonders how she could ever be afraid.

 

She can still feel Adrien’s presence at her back, and it burns away her anxiety like mist in the morning sun. They’re a team working on this project together, and with Adrien by her side there’s nothing she can’t face. So Marinette glances back for a glimpse of his smile, then she turns forwards and speaks with a voice that rings loud and clear. 

 

From there, they present beautifully, trading off details, thoughts, and ideas with the grace of a perfect dance. And, when Marinette gives the class her final word, they respond with exuberant applause. 

 

Relieved and slightly giddy from the adrenaline rush of a presentation well done, Marinette beams and reaches out to share a high-five with Adrien. 

 

He matches her without a thought, both of them cheering, “Success!” together, and then…

 

Marinette pauses, because something about this seems so, so familiar. 

 

oOoOo

 

Often times, Marinette finds her thoughts drifting to Chat Noir. It’s not that she’s in love with him (or, she’s pretty sure anyways), because she’s in love with Adrien and Chat has an absolutely ridiculous sense of comedic timing anyways, but she does love him all the same. 

 

Chat is dependable in a fight, and working with him is in many ways like working with her second half. Even though she’s known him for little more than a year it feels like they’ve been friends forever, but then Marinette blinks away the illusion as she realizes she doesn’t really know much about him after all. 

 

He’s allergic to pigeons, and has the funniest sneeze. He likes to flirt and tease at the dumbest times (even when she’s out of costume, because he’s actually entirely that ridiculous), but when the fight gets serious he doesn’t hesitate to jump in, and he finds no shame in battles where he takes the backstage. He dances if left alone for more than a few seconds, and he will respect her secret no matter how much he might want to know.

 

She doesn’t know him and he doesn’t know her, because for so long she’s been afraid of showing him the truth behind Ladybug, the little girl playing dress-up with a superhero mask.

 

And, despite all that he still trusts her - just as she trusts him. She can tease Chat and he’ll know that she means no harm, he can flirt with Ladybug and she’ll know that he won’t take it too far. 

 

Ladybug is comfortable with Chat Noir in a way that she’s never been with anyone else, and sometimes the scariest thing in the world is the thought that she could lose that to plain old boring, cowardly Marinette.

 

She likes to hang out with Chat, loves to share the secret adrenaline rush of touching the sky with him and hates having to leave so soon after each fight…

 

Marinette sometimes wonders what it would be like to hear Chat Noir’s flirtatious purrs outside the urgency of battle. She imagines his ungloved touch as a soft brush of fingers and the bare scrape of nails over her hand, daydreams about relaxing with him on picnic blankets in soft light and peaceful days.

 

She wonders if maybe - just maybe - she’s a little bit in love with Chat Noir after all.

 

But then it comes down to Adrien, again. Maybe it’d be better, to let go of her crush on him and to allow herself to hope that Chat Noir’s flirtations are real (though, if he’s flirting with Marinette as well as Ladybug, they’re probably not), but how can she let Adrien go? She’s been in love with Adrien ever since they met, and learning more about him has only ever brought her to loving him more every day, to hating the thought of losing him more every day.

 

 Yet… doesn’t the same apply to Chat?  

 

oOoOo

 

“You’re really amazing, you know?”

 

Marinette flushes as she hears Adrien say this, both because she’s flattered he thinks so and because she’s embarrassed that it’s not really true (though when he says it, it becomes easier to believe.)

 

She says _thank you_ in return and is unable to stop smiling for the rest of the day.

 

———

 

Chat taps his foot in rhythm while they wait, and the only reason he’s not breaking out into dance is because they’re on the roof trying to hide from an akuma-possessed candy-maker.

 

Ladybug hisses, “Chat Noir, do you _want_ to draw her attention? Please, at least _try_ to keep still!” It’s slightly unfair, maybe, to be so sharp about such an instinctive thing, but it’s also _kind of important right now,_ so there.

 

“Well, you know me, Ladybug,” he whispers back, teeth flashing sharp and white in the twilight, “I have entirely too much awesomeness to be contained!” 

 

All said, though, he still tries.

 

———

 

“You dumb cat! Why would you do something that, that _dumb_?!” Ladybug snaps, angry words contrasting with the gentle fingers probing his head.

 

“Aww, I knew you cared, my Lady,” Chat replies with a grin. It softens, though, as he adds, “You needed a distraction, right? And it’s better that I get hit than you.”

 

The thing that Ladybug hates is that he’s not entirely _wrong_. She doesn’t want him to get hurt, any more than he wants that for her, yet at the end of the day she’s the only one who can purify the akuma. By sheer necessity, her safety takes priority.

 

He already knows all of this, though, so Ladybug just sighs in relief when her inspection shows no damage and says, “That doesn’t mean you just go recklessly charging in, kitty cat. I still need you.”

 

It’s a risky game saying that, but Chat could have been seriously injured for her, has been before. Surely she can give him this much, at least.

 

And, she’s right. Chat blushes, tries to bite back a toothy smile and fails pretty spectacularly, but he doesn’t ruin the moment. He’s so shy, and so cute (fluffy kitty cute, not flirty kitty cute), and… something different - something _not Chat_ \- peeks through.

 

———

 

Marinette’s heart beats so fast that she might as well be the one on the runway instead of Adrien, and it only speeds up when he catches her eye with a nervous facade of a smile. She gives him a grin and a wink for reassurance, though, and Adrien relaxes into a confident (and eerily Chat Noir-esque) stride.

 

For all of Adrien’s worries, the show goes off without a hitch, and the minute she can Marinette races backstage so she can congratulate her friend, throwing her arms around his shoulders and exclaiming, “Adrien, you were amazing!”

 

Adrien catches her with surprise, then flushes Ladybug red at the compliment. After trying (and failing) to bite back a smile he finally lets himself grin, and Marinette is startled at the nagging sense of familiarity at the back of her mind.

 

Though, that fades as he replies, “Only because you were there for me.”

 

She smiles back at him with warmth creeping up her collar until a cough sounds behind her and Alya laughs, “How long are you going to stand like that?”

 

Marinette’s arms are still around Adrien’s shoulders, and his hands are held loosely at her hips. They both pull away like they’ve been burnt by the heat of their blushes.

 

And in the span of those few seconds, Marinette forgets just what was so startling. 

 

———

 

Something that Marinette learns after she becomes friends with Adrien: _he cannot sit still_. He tries to hide it, and does so well enough that most people don’t know but…

 

“Adrien, you’re fidgeting again.”

 

“Huh?” Adrien glances down to see that he is indeed tapping his foot on the ground and his fingers on his leg. As he’s currently being used as a mannequin for Marinette, he can’t move nearly as much as he wants - and it _really_ shows.

 

Marinette glances up at him with a frown, about to ask him to _stay still so I don’t accidentally stab you_ , but then she gets a better look at his face - and his discomfort. 

 

She switches tracks to say, “I only need a minute, then you can take a break. Can you hold still for that long?”

 

Adrien nods a _sure, of course_ , then goes back to being still. Well, he tries to, anyways. 

 

———

 

“My lady, you’re really amazing, you know?”

 

Ladybug rolls her eyes at Chat Noir and his cheery grin. Even though she’s flattered by his dramatic words, she knows that Chat is a flirt and says things like this all the time, so she replies, “Such a tease, Chat Noir. If you keep this up, someone might think you’re seriously interested.”

 

“I’m always serious when it comes to you, my Lady. But…” and this time, he blushes pink, “you _are_ really amazing.”

 

Ladybug finds her blush matches his pretty well. And yet, even that distraction can’t melt down the signal bells ringing in her head.

 

———

 

Marinette is talking with Adrien (without stuttering, which still feels novel sometimes, so yay!) when he laughs and orates a silly tale with a dramatic sweep of his arms and twisting, fidgeting hands. 

 

And then the world fades away to nothing but the rush of meaningless words and blurred lightanddark, because all she can see is a single point of clarity focused uneasily on a silver, gleaming ring.

 

And then Adrien asks, “Marinette?” with concern softening his voice and worry lining his eyes, and _she’s fine, just a little zoned out, don’t worry_ and _…_

 

And then the word snaps back into place. 

 

———

 

It’s a day just like any other when Marinette trips on her feet and lands with a crash on the floor. Fortunately not many people are there to see it since it’s not rush hour in the bakery, but it still kind of hurts. 

 

Not that Marinette notices, because her brain hurts more at the invading thought that _Alya might be right about Adrien being Chat Noir._

 

But Adrien can’t be Chat Noir, right? Because, she’s fought in life and death situations with Chat Noir, she’s leaned on Chat for support and he’s leaned on her, and if Adrien is Chat Noir, then…

 

Then she doesn’t know her partner, at all. How can she, if she can’t even see who he is. How can she, if she couldn’t tell that he and Adrien are one and the same?

 

Marinette barely notices as her mom and dad race towards her, when they help sit her up and ask if everything is all right. She answers… something, but it apparently isn’t good enough for them, because they send her up to her room for rest, and she mutely complies for lack of anything better. It’s not like she can think of much else right now anyways.

 

Because Adrien can’t be Chat Noir. He can’t be, because she knows Adrien… wouldn’t she be able to tell if he was? Shouldn’t she be able to spot her black cat anywhere, from the way he walks, the way he talks and smiles at her like they’re sharing the best secret, mask or no? Wouldn’t he be the same, wouldn’t he be _hers_ , wherever he is? (But then, how could anyone guess that _Ladybug_ is _Marinette?_ How could anyone recognize a clumsy schoolgirl as their city's beloved superhero? It might not be so farfetched after all…)

 

If. If, if _if_. If Adrien is Chat Noir, then she doesn’t know either of them at all. If Chat Noir is Adrien, then Adrien can only love her when she’s Ladybug, and Chat Noir’s crush can’t be anything other than an infatuation with this mask of hers that’s only who she wishes to be.

 

If Adrien is Chat, then her heart might break because _how could she be so blind - so shallow, so stupid - as to miss this,_ when every shard, every fragment she refused to see pieces together a picture of a boy she doesn’t know. 

 

If Adrien is Chat, then how can she say she loves him?

 

oOoOo

 

Day one, and Marinette doesn’t know what to do. She stares at Adrien, avoids his gaze, thinks of a thousand different approaches to take with her questions and a thousand reasons not to take them.

 

It’s easier to avoid him, for today.

 

———

 

Day two, and literally nothing has changed. Except Marinette is too anxious to sleep, to anxious to eat, and when Adrien asks her _what’s wrong?_ her only reply is a squeak that _it’s nothing, don’t worry about it, there’s not a problem here…_

 

And Adrien, worried and confused and hurt, looks away

 

———

 

Day three, and she can’t do that to him, can’t avoid him, and Alya, and Nino forever because it hurts too much to do so. But she also can’t figure out what to do. 

 

She goes straight home after school so she can drown out her confusion in work, and the bakery is empty when she accidentally asks, “What do you do when you realize you might not know a person as well as you think?”

 

Her mom pauses at the register. Tilts her head, glances over at Marinette with a contemplative gaze, asks, “Well, do you love them?”

 

Marinette pauses, then responds, “I think so. But if I don’t know them, can I say I do?”

 

At this, her mom laughs and walks around the counter to hug her daughter. “Marinette, you’re never going to know everything about the ones you love. I don’t know everything about your dad, and I’ve been married to him for twenty years. I don’t know everything about you, and I’ve raised you your whole life.” 

 

She pulls out of the hug and cups Marinette’s cheek in her warm, dry hand as she continues, “Can you see that doesn’t change the fact that I love both of you?”

 

Marinette nods, lightened by the thought because its so obvious when her mom says it like that. It’s okay to love, even if she doesn’t know everything about them (…him). _It’s okay_.

 

“To answer your question, though,” her mom says as she walks back to her station and turns to her with a smile, “Marinette, If you don’t know a person as well as you think, then get to know them some more. It won’t always be an easy path, or a smooth one, but it’ll be worth it if you love them.”

 

Is he worth it, then? Is he worth the trouble, and potential embarrassment, and all of the fears that'll have to be faced?

 

_Is that even a question?_

 

oOoOo

 

It's after a typical akuma attack that Ladybug, knowing that both their timers are running out, grips Chat Noir's arm rather than letting him go. Chat nearly stumbles, but turns to her anyways with a cheeky grin on his lips and a flirty quip on his tongue. 

 

Both fade when he actually sees her face, and he tilts his head to ask, softly, "...Lady?"

 

Normally Ladybug would bop him over the head for the overly-affectionate nickname, but then normally he wouldn’t be so worried and she wouldn't be asking, "Can you meet me up here in an hour?" with her heart fluttering in her chest, terrified of the thought of _change_.

 

Chat stares at her for a moment, eyes searching and curious behind his green lensed mask, but his answer is deceptively casual as he answers, "Anything for my Lady."

 

And if his grin is a little less confident than usual, well. Ladybug doesn't comment.

 

She nods, and lets out a relieved sigh. With a last glance back, she takes to the skies.

 

———

 

"Marinette, are you sure you're alright with this? Whether you're right or wrong... everything's going to be different.” Tikki, who is eating her way through a chocolate croissant right now, pauses to look up at Marinette with large, worried eyes. 

 

Marinette's smile is nervous as she answers, "It's fine, Tikki. I trust him. Even if I'm wrong, and Chat isn't who we think he is... I trust him.” 

 

She thinks of Chat Noir leading her through dark hallways, of teamwork and Parisian skylines and the crystal clear moment of horror when Timebreaker's blow never comes because it connects with a black cat instead, and she says, "I trust him with my life... and with my secret.”

 

And yet, that doesn’t make any of this less scary.

 

Tikki blinks slowly and nods once. "Ok, then. Whatever you do, Marinette, I'll support you. I'll be with you, always.”

 

She doesn’t just mean as Ladybug, either.

 

———

 

When Ladybug - rejuvenated and no less nervous for it - alights on the rooftops, Chat Noir is already waiting for her. Though he lounges like he doesn't have a care in the world, the jittery tap-tap-tap of his fingertips against rooftop tiles suggests otherwise. 

 

The moment he sees her, he surges to his feet, bounding up to her and nearly shouting, "Ladybug, is everything alright?"  

 

He barely refrains from stepping into her personal space to check her over for nonexistent injury (but really, he was _right there_ when they were fighting, he should know there’s no damage), and Ladybug bites her lip as she realizes how much she worried him accidentally. She still needs to do this, though.

 

"Everything's fine, Chat," she murmurs, fidgety like Marinette instead of Ladybug. But then, maybe now she _is_ Marinette, only wearing the mask of a Ladybug. 

 

She hesitates, then takes a deep breath. Finally, because she still needs to _know_ if he cares enough about Ladybug to accept Marinette, she asks, "Chat, do you love me?”

 

Chat Noir can't hide how startled he is at the random question, for a moment. Then he blinks away the shock and replaces it with a flirty smirk, purring, "Do you even need to ask?"

 

Ladybug stomps her foot, exclaiming, "I'm serious, Chat Noir, answer the question. _Do you love me?"_

 

This time, Chat doesn't even try to hide his surprise. He stares dumbstruck at Ladybug, eyes wide and panicked, until finally... he shifts his gaze to her feet, blushing so heavily that even his mask can't cover it, and murmurs, "Do you even need to ask?”

 

His voice is quiet, and trembling. His heart is so vulnerable right now, laid out soft and open by his words, that Marinette can’t help but flush, almost too off-balanced to speak.

 

When she finally does find the words, she answers, “…I love you, too. I might be _in_ love with you, too.”

 

Chat jerks his head up to look at her with incredulous hope, and it's Ladybug's turn to stare at their feet. She continues, babbling, "But I'm also in love with my friend too - a boy in my class - except I'm starting to think they're the same. That you’re the same."

 

When Ladybug - when Marinette looks up to meet Chat's eyes and sees utter shock still frozen there, she asks before she can lose the nerve, "Chat Noir, you don’t have to tell me, but… are you Adrien Agreste?" 

 

Chat opens his mouth, then closes it without a word. He repeats the process a few more times to the effect of a very confused fish, until he finally manages to form a strangled, “Wha? How?”

 

Then he leans in closecloseclose to her and searches her eyes for _something_ and finally, faintly, asks, "...Marinette?"

 

Marinette drops her transformation and catches Tikki as she pops out of her earring. 

 

On the rooftops, wholly Marinette and wholly unmasked as she holds Tikki close to her heart in one hand, she waves weakly at one of Paris's two superheroes and says, "...hi?"

 

(Her face is Ladybug red, and that's probably the only part of her still reminiscent of the good luck superhero who she just was.)

 

Light builds at Chat Noir’s feet, luminescent in cat-eye green. It rises, spreading to replace black boots and leather with sneakers and cotton, and within the span of a minute Adrien is standing in Chat Noir’s place. 

 

After catching the little black Kwami ejected from his now-silver ring, he - for lack of anything better - mimics her with an equally faint wave and a massively surprised, “…hi."

 

———

 

They stare at each other, moving only enough to blink in shock. Marinette doesn’t know what Adrien is thinking right now, but as she stands there staring, it occurs to her that maybe she should have planned this out a _little_ better. Like, maybe she should have thought about what she’d do after her question was answered. Or something. 

 

Evidently the silence stretches on too long, because the black cat Kwami finally gets impatient and whacks Adrien in the face with his tail, muttering, “Will you do something already? I’m bored.”

 

Adrien stumbles and nearly falls off the roof, which isn’t really the kind of ‘something’ that any of them prefer. (He doesn’t, thankfully, as Marinette and the two Kwami manage to catch him, but the threat is still there so in order to avoid falling prey to gravity, Marinette and Adrien make the tactical decision to retreat. Now, while they’re still on the roof because secrecy, they’re _far away_ from the edge.)

 

Tikki and the black cat kwami - Plagg, apparently - have no such restrictions though and chatter away easily as they drift over the rooftops. 

 

Adrien and Marinette, for lack of anything else to do, watch the kwami as the awkwardness builds and builds between them, until Marinette finally coughs and says, “I guess we should talk about this now?”

 

“Yeah,” Adrien agrees blankly, “That’d probably be good.”

 

Except they have no idea what to talk about, and proceed to sit in total silence instead. Aside from shy, not-really-covert glances at each other filled with varying and rapidly shifting levels of blushing and general amazement and/or bafflement, there’s not any real movement, either. 

 

The superheroes of Paris, ladies and gentlemen, apparently can’t string two coherent words together.

 

Then Marinette snorts, because Ladybug and Chat Noir can fight possessed, superpowered victims with the ability to alter the reality of the world in thematic ways, but they can’t talk to each other like normal people? Really?

 

As Adrien turns to her with a question of _what’s so funny_ , and as Marinette explains everything that’s going through her head in between her gasping giggles, the air lightens, clears up like ladybug-snaring cobwebs have finally been swept away. 

 

Whether it’s because of nerves or actual humor, Adrien joins her in filling the night sky with laughter instead of silence, and when that finally dies down, Marinette lays her head absently on Adrien’s shoulder. 

 

A moment of hesitation, and Adrien tilts his head to rest on hers, asking with a murmur in her hair, “So... what now?”

 

“Now? I don’t know. I guess we take it as it comes…”

 

“Don’t worry about it,” Tikki says, patting Marinette’s cheek before she darts away to fly a circuit around their heads, “You guys are going to be seeing each other every day without limit, so you have time. And, you’re already close friends. That’s more than enough!”

 

“Plus you won’t have to waste time angsting about being in love with two people, Adrien,” Plagg snarks, “since they’re _exactly the same_. That’ll give you more time to chat instead of _pine_.”

 

Adrien jerks straight upright as he, sounding horrified, hisses, “ _Plagg!_ ”, and Marinette almost doesn’t notice because she’s too busy trying not to spontaneously combust and burn the building to the ground. Even amidst her own freak-out, though, she notices Adrien hiding his face with his hands in a failed attempt to hide his blush.

 

Plagg sniggers as he watches the spectacle, and doesn’t pay a whit of attention to Tikki’s scolding - though seeing the grin on her face and her playful tone with which she speaks, it’s pretty clear why.

 

That leaves Marinette to take pity on Adrien (and herself cuz two birds, one stone, right?), so she laughs slightly nervously and says, “Hey, it’s no problem, Adrien, I’m flattered. And I already confessed to you while sitting in the dirt and hiding behind a bush, so it really can't be much worse than that.”

 

She tugs at the long fingers that are halfway hiding his bright green eyes, and his revealed blush matches her own. As she pulls Adrien’s hands away from his face, he looks up at her with a shy smile and Marinette prays that Plagg wasn’t lying, that Chat Noir flirts with Marinette because it’s her not because he likes to flirt and that her hunch (her hope, her wish, her dream) rings true.

 

Then, feeling the tiniest bit bold, she brushes the curve of his smile with a feather-light kiss.

 

Adrien starts, then hums as he closes his eyes, and it fills her heart with warm bubbles even as she slowly pulls away. Opening her eyes, and meeting Adrien's breathtaking gaze, Marinette whispers in a ghost of their kiss, “For now, how ‘bout we start off slow? Sound good to you?”

 

Adrien blinks, slow and smooth like a cat fully trusting. Then, beaming brightly enough to light up the night, he laces their fingers together and gently bumps his forehead to hers, whispers against her lips, “Whatever you say, my princess. Whatever you say."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally, this was going to end at 'After catching the little black Kwami ejected from his now-silver ring, he - for lack of anything better - mimics her with an equally faint wave and a massively surprised, “…hi."' but that seemed kind of mean and incomplete, so this new ending happened instead.
> 
> Anyways, I've had a lot of fun writing this, and seeing people respond. I think this is actually the first multi chapter story I've ever completed, so thanks for sticking with it this whole time if you made it this far!


End file.
